44 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
Table 24. — The reported number of Nantucket Shoals tagged cod taken on Nantucket Shoals from 1928 
to 1928 by fishing vessels operating out of Boston, Gloucester, and Portland, together with the catch 
of cod for each month 
Number of cod taken by New England fleet and, in parentheses, number of Nantucket 
Shoals tagged cod 1 
Month 
1923 
1924 
1925 
1926 
1927 
1928 3 
1,947 
3, 775 
(1) 
582 
1, 931 
364 
1, 666 
847 
323 
364 
659 
0 
(1) 
7,298 
(1) 
364 
9, 192 
May 
3, 331 
5, 327 
(2) 
35, 194 
(1) 
7, 582 
1, 759 
28, 355 
June - 
16, 968 
12, 129 
U) 
12, 108 
7, 456 
(5) 
706 
12, 387 
July 
28, 260 
(5) 
40, 718 
(4) 
6, 704 
(4) 
18, 375 
(3) 
15, 615 
(1) 
9, 897 
(1) 
August 
21, 677 
(5) 
9, 866 
(2) 
25, 939 
GO) 
15, 227 
(2) 
14, 970 
35,811 
September,. , , , , 
52, 805 
(12) 
4, 965 
(2) 
3, 041 
(6) 
12, 274 
(4) 
19, 678 
(2) 
44, 269 
(6) 
October , , -- 
32, 768 
(17) 
33, 693 
(5) 
15, 261 
(6) 
26, 847 
(4) 
19, 638 
(7) 
104, 202 
(4) 
November ... - - ... 
2,276 
(2) 
9, 187 
17, 900 
(1) 
17, 090 
(2) 
10, 177 
(6) 
4, 966 
December.. 
516 
(2) 
8,619 
1,528 
2,728 
777 
5,268 
Total 
160, 267 
(43) 
126, 451 
(17) 
128, 748 
(30) 
108, 161 
(20) 
86, 826 
(16) 
255, 693 
(11) 
> These statistics were obtained from monthly bulletins, giving the catch landed by vessels in Boston, Gloucester, and Port- 
land, issued by the Bureau of Fisheries. The number of fish is estimated here on a basis of 1 fish for each 10 pounds of catch. 
3 In addition to the recaptures reported for 1928 there were taken on Nantucket Shoals 2 Woods Hole tagged cod (1 in March 
1 in October), 1 Cholera Bank cod in May and 1 Atlantic City cod in July. 
More proof that cod remain on Nantucket Shoals for an extended period is had 
from the records of catch, per unit of effort, made by the Halcyon and the Albatross 
II, which show that throughout the summer, at least, the cod population was very 
stable. This is shown in Table 25. 
Table 25. — The catch of cod made by the tagging vessels on Nantucket Shoals from April to October, 
1928-1928 per unit of effort 1 
Month 
Cod caught 
Catch of cod per hour on a basis of six lines fishing 
1923 
1924 
1925 
1926 
1927 
1928 
1923 
1924 
1925 
1926 
1927 
1928 
282 
487 
1, 278 
8.3 
10. 1 
27.8 
879 
718 
1, 251 
1,.705 
25. 1 
21.4 
65.0 
38.6 
1,420 
748 
30.8 
16.0 
1, 970 
1,454 
2, 730 
1, 292 
47.0 
25.5 
38.4 
41.6 
1,063 
955 
1, 911 
1, 460 
1,294 
30.8 
15.0 
33.6 
42.0 
44.5 
October 3 
1,441 
304 
38.0 
8.7 
1 This table includes all cod caught whether or not they were tagged. It should be remembered that pollock and haddock were 
caught with the cod, so that the catch of fish per hour was greater than the figures for the cod alone. 
2 Fishing was done the last week of May, 1923, and the first week of May, 1925. 
3 Two cruises were made during October each year from 1923 to 1925. 
It can be seen that the catch of cod was most uniform throughout the summer 
months, while the greatest fluctuations took place in the fall and spring, at which 
seasons, respectively, cod were departing from and returning to Nantucket Shoals 
from their wintering grounds to the westward. It is possible that the stock of fish 
would be kept fairly constant if cod emigrated during the summer and were replaced 
by new immigrants. But as few Nantucket tagged cod have been retaken to the 
north and east of the grounds off southern Massachusetts at any time, it is quite 
evident that the summer population retains its numerical strength chiefly because 
most of the fish remain localized. 
Certain of the extreme catches given in the preceding table can be explained, at 
least in part. Thus the small catch made on the first cruise in 1923, which was the 
first to be made on the present investigation, might be laid partly to our unfamiliarity 
